Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 6, 1994 TAG: 9404080013
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cal Thomas
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
What upsets the Clinton administration and many U.S. editorial writers is a case involving an American living in Singapore, 18-year-old Michael Fay, who was arrested last October and charged with 53 counts of vandalism and related offenses. Fay pleaded guilty on March 4 to two counts of vandalism, two counts of mischief and one count of dishonest retention of stolen property. Under Singapore law, he is subject to three strokes with a rattan cane (the minimum sentence) and two months in prison for each of the two vandalism charges.
Most press reports and editorials have focused on the pain, skin damage and blood-letting inflicted by caning, and on allegations that Fay has been singled out for racial or political reasons. In fact, it appears that Singapore's approach to crime and punishment is more consistent than America's.
We might not like some elements of Singapore's judicial system (the absence of trial by jury, for example), but if creating safe streets where citizens and their families can walk unmolested is considered a worthy goal, then Singapore could teach the United States a few things.
A Los Angeles Times story notes the absence of graffiti in Singapore and a general feeling of safety. The subway is clean. Muggings are rare. Gang warfare has been eliminated.
Last year, 58 murders, 80 rapes, 1,008 robberies and 3,162 car thefts occurred in Singapore. During the same period in Los Angeles, with about the same population as Singapore, there were 1,100 homicides, 1,855 rapes, 39,227 robberies and 65,541 stolen cars.
Last year, guns were involved in only three robberies in Singapore. Crime figures overall have barely changed since 1989.
There is virtually no poverty in Singapore. Families stay together and children live at home until marriage. Young people don't loiter on the streets waiting to sell drugs. Public shame and tough laws deter criminal activity.
Contrast this attitude toward crime with the plea bargaining of Tonya Harding that allows her to make gobs of money and pay an insignificant fine. Or of Joey Buttafuoco, who goes to jail briefly for statutory rape and emerges a rich man.
Is it any wonder America has a crime problem?
Commenting on the Fay case, a Singapore official said the reason his country is tough on crime and criminals is because it doesn't want to become like New York City. Who can blame them? Many think the Big Apple is now rotten to the core, a classic example of liberal social policy run amok.
In colonial America, criminals were subjected to public ridicule, public floggings, even public hangings. Crime was dealt with harshly because it was seen as a threat to an orderly society. Now, we explain and excuse violent criminals and their actions because they were abused or disadvantaged. But most poor, abused and disadvantaged people don't become criminals, so the explanation is flawed.
We've allowed the sociologists, psychologists and psychiatrists to explain and excuse, so the punishment rarely fits the crime. Even paddling has been outlawed in a large percentage of American schools, many of which have been transformed from learning centers into combat zones full of drugs, knives and guns. If caning and other strong laws can control crime in Singapore, allowing the law-abiding to feel safe in their own country, perhaps similar measures will work here.
In America, you can literally get away with murder. In Singapore, you don't get away with much, which is why Singapore may be a nicer place to visit and live than, say, New York or Los Angeles.
Until we do a better job controlling crime, we ought not to be giving a nation that is winning the war on crime the ``benefit'' of our dubious advice.
Los Angeles Times Syndicate
by CNB